Authors: Mike Resnick
Mutiny (5 page)
Cole sat perfectly still, his chin on his fist, staring at some fixed point only he could see. He remained motionless for almost two minutes, then suddenly looked up.
"Lieutenant, I need some information," he said.
"I haven't found anything useful yet, sir."
"Not about Rapunzel—about Bortel II."
"Sir?"
"Find out what kind of power they're using. Not just the military, but the whole damned planet."
She queried the computer, gave it a few seconds to come up with the data, and turned to Cole. "Bortel II has no fissionable materials at all, sir."
"I didn't think so."
"But their ship has to be using fissionable fuel, sir," she continued. "It's certainly not running on wood or coal."
"I know," said Cole. "What about their planetary fuel reserves— gas, coal, oil, whatever?"
Christine looked at the computer. "About ninety percent depleted, sir."
"And let me guess that their planetary economy is in a depression, and that it's probably been pretty bad for at least a couple of years, maybe longer."
She checked, then looked up at him with a puzzled expression. "Yes, sir. They're in the fourth year of a major economic depression."
"Four Eyes, bank a hundred and eighty degrees and take us back the way we came," said Cole.
"You've figured it out!" said Christine. "You know why they're here and where they are, don't you?"
Cole nodded an affirmative. "Yeah, I think so."
"Well?" demanded the Molarian.
"It was a number of things," he replied. "Individually, they didn't mean anything. Put them together and they give a pretty clear picture."
" Whatever they are, we all saw the same things and only you seem to make sense of them," said Forrice. "Why is that?"
Cole allowed himself the luxury of a smile. "Do you want a frank answer or a friendly one?"
"Just tell us what you've figured out."
"The first hint was that Lieutenant Mboya couldn't find a damned thing worth coming to Rapunzel for no treasure, no fissionable material, no one worth holding for ransom, no gold or diamonds buried beneath the surface. Then there was the fact that Bortel II has stayed neutral for years and then suddenly joined the Teroni Federation. And of course there was the mountain range."
"And from that you think you've figured out what's going on?" said Forrice. "How did you make all those guesses about conditions on Bortel II?"
"They weren't guesses," answered Cole. "There's only one thing this planet has in abundance, if you know how to utilize it, and that's energy."
"Energy?" scoffed Forrice. "Lieutenant Mboya already told you there's no plutonium, no uranium, no—"
"You weren't listening," interrupted Cole. "We passed over a thousand-mile stretch of active volcanic mountains. With the right technology, you could power a planet for centuries with the energy that's trying to burst out of that range. That's why I asked about the power reserves on Bortel; if they were as low as I thought, then I knew why the Bortellites were here. And since they're clearly not here on a mission of conquest, they probably brought everything they need in one ship: scientists with the know-how and technology to siphon off a lot of that energy and store it, and just enough military personnel to safeguard them. They desperately need that energy, which is also why they joined the Teroni Federation. The Republic will never admit it, of course, but I'll bet Bortel II held an unofficial little auction, and the winner was the side that was willing to fuel their warships. Think of the power that baby at the spaceport consumes, and then consider what Lieutenant Mboya told us: they have no fissionable materials on their home planet. They didn't develop the technology to power that ship overnight. They've been buying their fuel, probably from both sides, but if their economy went south they had to take other measures. Joining the Federation was one measure; coming here was another."
"It makes sense when you explain it like that," said Christine.
"He's right," agreed Forrice. "I just hate it when he's right. It usually means big trouble for everyone who's anywhere near him."
"But the sensors didn't pick up any activity or even any large life-forms when we flew over the mountains before," she said.
"We flew
across
them," said Cole. "This time we're going to fly the whole thousand-mile length of them, up one side and down the other. Before we're done, we'll find what—and who—we're looking for." He turned to Forrice. "How long before we reach the foothills?"
"Not long," answered the Molarian. "Maybe two or three minutes."
"I wish to hell I knew what kind of technology is required to pull and store all that energy," said Christine. "Then I could program the sensors to look for it."
"Since we can't do that, find out what lives on the mountains," said Cole. "If it's four- or six-legged, just tell the sensors to look for groups of bipeds."
"Yes, sir. I'll get right to work on it."
Cole got to his feet. "Well," he announced, "if you're doing that and Four Eyes is driving the ship, I guess I'm free to grab something to eat."
"At a time like this?" demanded Forrice.
"I'm hungry," replied Cole. "That's usually the best time to eat." He looked around. "Where the hell do we store food on the shuttle?"
"Last cabinet on the lower left."
Cole walked to the back of the shuttle, found the cabinet, opened it, couldn't find anything that appealed to him, and finally pulled out a cookie. He stared at it distastefully for a moment, then shrugged and took a bite. He chewed it thoughtfully, decided he liked it after all, and took another bite. He was just about to look for some coffee or tea to wash it down with when Forrice called back to him.
"I hate to disturb you," said the Molarian. "But we just found the bad guys." The small ship shuddered and began losing altitude. "More to the point, they've found us."
The ship shuddered again.
"I think we'd better set the
Kermit
down," said Cole. "Pretty soon they're going to get tired of firing warning shots."
"You don't want me to fire back?" asked Forrice.
"Hell, no. We don't know what kind of weaponry they've got down there, but we know we can't match fire with the warship, and if we managed to blow these guys away, it can reach us a hell of a lot quicker than the
Teddy R
can."
"Pardon a question, sir, but what makes you think they'll let us land?" asked Christine.
"We're flying at cruising speed, and their weapons are almost certainly under computer control," answered Cole as the turbulence became worse. "Just how many times do you figure they'd miss the
Kermit
unless they wanted to? They're just inviting us to land and showing us what they've got in case we decide to fight or flee."
"Are you sure about this?" asked Forrice. "We're a shuttle against a ground position. We can go to light speeds if we want—but if we land there are an awful lot of them and only three of us."
"You're not thinking clearly," answered Cole. "If you try to go to light speeds while we're still in the atmosphere, the friction will incinerate us. And you can bet your alien ass that they'll shoot a lot straighter if we start climbing. Now, take us down nice and slow, and don't activate any weapons. Lieutenant, leave the radio open. They're almost certainly going to give us some orders; there's no reason why Fujiama and Podok shouldn't hear them."
"I have another question, sir," said Christine.
"This would be a good time to ask it," said Cole. "We might be a bit occupied once we touch down."
"Why are we even in this position?" she said. "Surely you must have known they would have weapons with them, and could force us down."
"They certainly figured to have some," he agreed. "They're pretty exposed out here."
"Then why have you purposely endangered us?" she continued. "I don't mean to sound insubordinate, sir, but if I'm going to die I'd like to think it was for a good reason."
"I don't know who indoctrinated you, Lieutenant," responded Cole, "but there aren't any good reasons for dying. We're in this position because I have a feeling that the Bortellite commander shares
my
sentiments rather than yours."
"I don't follow you, sir."
"There's only one Bortellite warship at the spaceport, and our sensors didn't spot any when we passed over Pinocchio. We know the ship carries a crew of three hundred. We know Rapunzel is a Republic world. What does that imply to you?"
She stared at him, a puzzled frown on her face.
"All right," he continued, "let me add one more fact to consider: Bortel II didn't officially join the Teroni Federation until a week ago."
A look of dawning comprehension spread across her face. "Of course!" she said. "You think they've been infiltrating Rapunzel, landing hundreds, maybe thousands, of their agents here while Bortel II was officially neutral."
"It helps explain how they could land their ship without being challenged, and why no one's out here trying to stop them. If I'm right, they'll leave when they've gotten what they came for. This world is militarily indefensible against the Republic. There's no way they can establish supply lines, and it's not worth losing any ships over. They probably wanted to get in and out fast."
"It makes sense up to this point," put in Forrice. "But we're going to be on the ground in another ninety seconds. What do we do then?"
"Assess the situation," said Cole.
"I'll assess it right now," said Forrice. "We're going to be prisoners of the Teroni Federation. They don't know Lieutenant Mboya, and they couldn't care less about me, but they've got good reason to remember you. Wilson Cole would be quite a prize to bring home."
"I know you're going to have a difficult time believing this, but we're safer now than if we'd gone covertly into Pinocchio or one of the other cities and tried to find out how thoroughly they've been infiltrated."
Forrice snorted his disagreement. It sounded like a tuba playing a B-flat.
"Think it through," continued Cole. "If you're found out in the streets or the back alleys on Pinocchio, you're just a spy who asked too many questions, and the obvious course is to slit your throat. Maybe they'd try to make it look like a robbery and maybe they wouldn't, but it wouldn't make any difference to you, because you'd be dead and whatever you'd learned would have died with you. At least this way we're officers who are in a military shuttle, so they know if they kill us they've got the mother ship to contend with—and since they're new to the Rim, they probably don't know that the
Teddy R
belongs in a geriatric ward. Also, they have to know we're here because we spotted their ship; if we don't mention the conclusions we've reached, there's every chance they won't credit us with the intelligence to figure out that they're here to plunder some energy. After all, we're officers—and if theirs are as dumb and hidebound as ours, they're not going to think much of our collective brainpower."
"If you hold officers in such contempt, why did you become one?" asked Forrice.
"The food's better, and I don't have to share my cabin," replied Cole, and neither of his companions could tell if he was kidding.
"We touch down in twenty seconds," announced the Molarian.
"Do we have any kind of an escort?" asked Cole.
"No."
"So whatever brought them here is so unimpressive that they don't want us to see it."
"Our sensors don't see any sign of a ship at all, or even any ground transport, sir," said Christine. "I think they were dropped off, and they'll probably signal whatever brought them when they want to be picked up."
Cole removed his laser and sonic pistols. "Leave your burners and screechers here," he said. "If we take them with us when we leave the shuttle they'll just disarm us. Why give them any more weapons?"
Forrice and Christine followed suit, and Cole locked them in a cabinet. "Just in case they inspect the ship," he explained.
"Do you plan to let them come aboard?" asked Christine.
"Of course not," he replied. "But you know what they say about the best-laid plans."
The ship jarred them slightly as it landed on the uneven ground.
"I think it would be best if you'd defer all questions to me," said Cole. "If we start contradicting each other, we'll almost certainly be separated and interrogated rather painfully."
The hatch opened and a ramp emerged, allowing them to descend comfortably to the ground.
They found themselves and the shuttle surrounded by some fifty Bortellite soldiers. They were humanoid in appearance, taller than Men, very slender, with six-fingered hands that possessed a pair of opposable thumbs. Their feet were quite small, as if they had evolved from hooves. Their heads were almost circular, with two exceptionally large eyes, a pair of very wide-set nostrils and no discernible nose at all, and wide mouths that revealed flat teeth and no canines when they spoke. The most interesting thing about them was that they all wore helmets and oxygen packs.
"I thought Bortel II was an oxygen world, Lieutenant," said Cole under his breath.
"It is, sir."
So you need a much higher or lower oxygen content than you can get on Rapunzel,
thought Cole.
There's a little tidbit that might come in handy.
"Why did you fire on my ship?" asked Cole aloud.
"Why are you here?" demanded a Bortellite who seemed to be the leader. He uttered his words into a T-pack, which translated them into Terran in a mechanical monotone.
"Rapunzel is a Republic world, and we are officers in the Republic's Navy," said Cole. "We have every right to be here. Let me ask you the same question: Why are members of the Teroni Federation here and why did you fire on my craft?"
The leader stared at Cole for a long moment. "Rapunzel is a neutral planet, and is no longer affiliated with the Republic. We have as much right here as you have."
"Since when did Rapunzel withdraw from the Republic?" asked Cole.
"It will be announced soon."
"Has Rapunzel held a planetary plebiscite?" asked Cole. "Where were the vote totals posted, and by what percentage did the populace choose to leave the Republic?"
"I have no knowledge of such things," said the leader noncommittally. "I am an officer, not a politician."
"Then let me ask another question," said Cole. "Who are you guarding these uninhabited mountains from?"
"That is none of your business."
"I beg to differ. It becomes my business when you fire on a Republic shuttle."
"Your business on this world is at an end," said the Bortellite. "Surely you realize that we could have shot you down. We elected not to, because you obviously did not know of Rapunzel's neutrality."
Son of a bitch! You're weaker here than I thought. Any minute you're going to offer us safe passage out of here.
As if on cue, the Bortellite said: "If you will give me your pledge that you will honor Rapunzel's neutrality, I will let you leave in peace."
Forrice and Christine looked questioningly at Cole. He nodded his head almost imperceptibly.
"You have my pledge," said Forrice.
"And mine," added Christine.
"And you?" said the leader, facing Cole.
"You go to hell," said Cole. "I'll make no such pledge. My crew may be traitors, but I'm not."
"What?"
bellowed Forrice.
"You heard me," said Cole. "You're a disgrace to your uniform."
He reached out and pushed the Molarian in the chest, while mouthing the words
Grab me.
Forrice stared at him as if in shock, but made no attempt to reach out for him.
Shit!
thought Cole.
You can speak Terran, but you form the words differently. You cant read my lips.
"And you," he said, turning on Christine. "You're no better than he is!"
Hit me!
he mouthed.
Christine stepped forward. "You almost got us all killed!" she yelled. "Don't you call me a traitor!"
She took a swing at Cole. He ducked, slipped around behind her, and wrapped his arms around her. Lowering his head, he whispered: "As soon as you're out of here, tell—"
"Mount Fuji, I know," she whispered back.
"No!"
They were pulled apart by the Bortellites before he could say anything further.
I've got to get the message to you somehow.
"It's going to make headlines when they court-martial you," he said bitterly.
Do you understand? Did you spot the key word? If you didn't, I'm in
big
trouble.
"I hope they cut you into pieces!" she snarled. She turned to the Bortellite leader. "Am I free to go?"
I hope to hell that means you've figured it out.
"Yes," he replied. "But if you return, we will destroy your vessel."
"I thought Rapunzel was supposed to be a neutral planet," said Forrice.
"It is," said the Bortellite. "But we will view your reappearance as an act of aggression and will respond in kind."
"What if we consider
your
presence an act of aggression?" the Molarian shot back.
Shut up and get out of here before he changes his mind!
"We are not under the command of an officer who refuses to acknowledge Rapunzel's neutrality, or our right to be here," was the reply.
Cole was sure that Forrice was about to argue the point, so he decided he had to put an end to it. "Get out of my sight, you spineless coward!" he snarled.
Please,
he added mentally.
Forrice finally realized what Cole wanted. "Don't kill him too quickly," he said to the Bortellite. He began walking toward the hatch, followed by Christine. Cole could tell by their body language that they were leaving reluctantly, almost under protest.
The
Kermit
took off a moment later, and the Bortellite leader studied Cole carefully. "Your features seem familiar," he said at last. He continued staring.
"Very
familiar." Pause. "But I couldn't be that lucky. Why would they send you to this nothing in the middle of nowhere?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," replied Cole.
The Bortellite kept studying Cole. "Probably I'm wrong. Men all tend to look alike. But just in case, I think we'll run a scan on your implanted ID chip."
"I'll save you the trouble. I am Commander Wilson Cole, Second Officer of the
Theodore Roosevelt."
"I
knew
it!" exclaimed the Bortellite. "We have captured the notorious Wilson Cole!"
Cole shrugged. "These things happen."
The leader turned to a subordinate. "Notify the ship, and have them prepare a cell with the proper oxygen content for our prisoner." Then, to Cole: "What is a warrior of your credentials doing out here on the Rim?"
"Wondering what you feed your prisoners."
"You do not seem very concerned about your situation."
"I'm a reasonable man," said Cole. "I'm willing to negotiate."